downs syndrome screening

[ditsydoll]

I had the screening with DD but have opted not to have it this time around as I wouldn't have further tests had it come back a high risk last time so didn't really see much point in having it done this time around.

Just wondering who did and didn't have the test?

I did with DD1 - came back very low risk.

I then did with DC2 (age 30) - came back (nuchal and bloods) as 1:90. The midwives acted like this was the end of the world (despite it being still just over 1%) and were advising me to 'think through my options'... No way we would ever terminate and therefore we weren't prepared to risk an amnio. However something didn't add up, since the nuchal was totally normal (on the small side in fact), so we went for a very detailed private scan which looked at all the markers visible at 12wks and our risk went down to around 1:3000.

Apparently I have weird blood in pregnancy, which results in dodgy test results when it's given a lot of weight in results (as in the dual test used by the NHS). But in reality it means naff-all.

So if/when we have DC3 I won't have the test: my baseline risk will be higher since I'll be older, and my bloods will still be dodgy...

In a way it makes me angry there's so much focus on DS when there are a million and one other things which could be 'wrong' with your baby...

I didn't have the test, but an increased nuchal fold in both pg's meant, I was given a high chance of ds. We didn't have an amnio with ds1 as we knew we would continue witht the pg, but with ds2 we were given a 1 in 4 chance so , although we knew we wanted to continue with the pg, we felt it was better to be armed with as much knowledge as possible to prepare us and ds1. As it was, he didnt have ds, but following other tests,discovered he had another genetic disorder. He is now 5 and lovely.

I think, to sum up, our decision to test or not was only influenced by how much knowing in advance would help support you as a family. As Whatchagonna says, there are manty other conditions out there.

I completely agree, I just decided it wasn't worth it as I wouldn't risk the amnio and I would never even consider terminating which I think is just an awful thing to even think about because your having a downs baby.
First time around I just went along with the screening.

23 weeks with 1st baby, didn't have it. We would have been far more devastated to lose a pregnancy through invasive testing than we would to have a child with Down's, therefore we wouldn't have amnio or CVS, so we didn't see the point of a screening test that could make us worry but not give a definitive answer. One midwife made clear that she strongly disagreed with our decision not to have the screening tests being offered, but really it wasn't for her to express an opinion on the subject..